Top 10 Cricket World Cup 2015 Facts

Well, Cricket World Cup 2015 has been around the corner and will be starting at 14 Feb, the Valentine’s Day. Now there are many new things in this World Cup and some things that will probably be the last time around. That’s why I compiled this list of Top Ten Facts About Cricket World Cup 2015. So here we go with:

Top 10 Cricket World Cup 2015 Facts:

10. 2 New-Balls:

This will be the first World Cup where there will be 2 new-balls used from each ends in an innings. Because ICC introduced this rule after the 2011 World Cup (in Late 2012), this will be the World Cup debut for this somehow controversial rule.

9. More Field-Restrictions:

This will be the world Cup in which only 4 fielders will be outside the Circle during the non-Power Play overs. Contrary to the five fielders, four fielders would have to do some great amount of hard work to keep the Scoreboard calm.

8. Time Difference Among Different Cities:

Across the 14 different Cricketing venues (7 each for Australia and New Zealand), there will be whopping time difference of no less than 6 hours. Day-Light Saving Time (DST) in New Zealand means that its time is 3 hours ahead of the Sydney, which is on the eastern shores of the Australia, which in turn, is 3 hours ahead of the Perth in Western Australia.

7. New Blokes Around The Corner:

In almost every team there are new kids around for a while and making their World Cup debut. As such is the case with batsmen Quinton de Kock, Joe Root, James Taylor, Haris Sohail, Ajinkya Rahane, Corey Anderson, Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera and many more.

Among bowlers there are Vernon Philander, Junaid Khan, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Milne and Muhammad Irfan etc. who want to make their impact in biggest ODI tournament.

6. Doomsday For Openers:

As it is shown in a recent post at espncricinfo.com via stats, that Australia is the most Difficult Country for Openers, since the start of 2008. Add the rule of 2 new-balls in this equation and you’ll realize how much it is difficult for openers (especially Non-Australians).

As it was evident in First ODI of Recent tri-series between England and Australia, it took just one over for Australia to get two English batsmen back to the Pavilion.

5. Expect More Conventional Swing Rather Than Reverse:

As the 2 new balls will be used at each end, there will be virtually no chance for the ball to reverse swing. As each ball will be only 25-overs old even after the whole completed innings, it will be relatively less older. That’s why chances of reverse swing should be virtually zero.

But that doesn’t mean it’s merry time for the Batsmen, rather than reverse, there will be conventional swing which will test the batsmen’s temperament and technique, in conditions suited to Fast Bowlers.

4. Probably The Last World-Cup To Have That Many Associates:

2015 ODI World Cup, could be the last World Cup to have that many Associate teams. After 2011 World Cup, ICC announced that the 2015 edition would be a 10-team tournament.

After which, there was a concern shown by Ireland (tormentor of Big Birds in World Cups, ask Pakistan and English team of 2007 and 2011 respectively) and ICC delayed this step until 2019 World Cup, which will be held in England. So saying again, this could be a last chance for Associate teams to shine at this biggest stage.

3. Roles of Spinners, Fast-Bowling Guns and Part-Timers:

It is expected that in this tournament spinners will have a less-decisive role than the previous one, which was held in Sub-Continent. Because Australian pitches generally don’t favor much to spin-bowling and particularly off-spinners have gone for 65 runs-per-wicket average since 2008, most teams will rely much on their Fast Bowling Spearheads.

Also two Premier Spinners of the world, Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine, are not playing in this world cup, so a lot of pressure for spinners. Now coming to part-timers. I think they will also have a less important role than the previous role. Due to the fact that only 4 fielder will be allowed outside the circle during non-Power play overs, all teams will try to play at least four specialist bowlers and one bowling All-Rounder.

But again, this thing will have its own curses. Bowling with more than three fast bowlers can take too much time and exceed the allotted time (this thing is the major source of concern for Australian Team, Right Now) and also more attack sometimes can leak many runs. So it is a gamble indeed.

2. Could Be Farewell of Some of The Greats:

Though modern Legends like Tendulkar, Kallis and Ponting have retired long before this 2015 World Cup, it can be last for some other Great Players too. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have indicated about their retirement. The same can be said about Pakistani pair of Captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.

Meanwhile, Shahid Afridi has also said that he would retire from ODI cricket after this Grand Event. As with Indian and Australian teams, their Skippers MS Dhoni and Michael Clark can also say Good Bye to ODI cricket. Though Clark’s problem is his increasingly vulnerable Back-injury.

And MS Dhoni has already retired from test cricket, possibility of retirement from ODIs after this tournament can’t be totally discarded.

1. Different Nature of Different Venues:

At last, now lets talk about the varying nature of different venues. Like 50 shades of Grey, each of the 14 venues have a unique characteristic. First talk about Australian pitches. Conditions in Australia generally assists fast-bowling, particularly WACA (touted as world’s quickest pitch), Perth and The Gabba, Brisbane. But for the batsmen, who are strong in hook and Pull shots that is a great batting opportunity. Conditions in Sydney and Adelaide Oval generally aids spin bowlers.

Now talk about Kiwi’s land, New Zealand. Grounds in New Zealand like Basin Reserve and Auckland have a green tinge of grass on pitches, which helps the fast-bowlers to extract the swing. Closeness of the grounds to the Sea and Wind also helps the ball to get swing.

Now comparing the size of grounds, Australian grounds which are generally associated with the largest grounds in the world (in terms of the size of boundary), now have to host this Mega Event with New Zealand’s grounds which are among the smallest Grounds in this planet.

Conclusion:

So, these were the Top 10 most general facts about Cricket World Cup 2015.Do you know some more interesting facts about CWC ’15? If so, share with us in Comments.